Facts

Of
New Mexico’s 20,000 farms and ranches, only about 8% make direct sales
to local agro-regional buyers of their fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts,
meats and prepared foods.

New Mexicans currently spend less than one percent of all cash receipts
for food on local food. More than 99% of cash spent on food is spent on
imported food and food products, and most of the food produced in New
Mexico is exported.

New Mexicans spend over $4 billion each year on imported food and farmer/ranchers spend over $1.3 billion on inputs.

New Mexico has 50 farmers markets with over 25,700 customers and about
15 community supported agriculture locations. The Farm-to-school project
collects fruits and vegetables from ten farms and supplies eight public
school districts (2009). There are Farm-to-chef/restaurant value
chains, and La Montanita food coop helps stock “local food” shelves in
major retail groceries.

Of the approximately 4,350 food-related new Mexico firms, about 150 provide value-added food products (food manufacturers).

La Montanita coop with 25 years’ experience organizing foodshed value
chains handles at least 1,000 local products year-round on a seasonal
basis. La Montanita sells $28 million of products in a year to its
nearly 16,000 members, about 20% locally produced, which is close to New
Mexico’s 2020 goal.

La Montanita operates a co-operative Distribution center (CDC).
Farmers and producers, throughout La Montanita’s foodshed, can either
sell their products direct to their four coop retail locations or
utilize the CDC warehouse to expand their markets and save on gas and
transport costs. The CDC offers local producers post-harvest
cooler/freezer space and dry storage. CDC picks up food from over 700
regional producers, and delivers to over 30 stores, restaurants and
institutions. Its distribution center handles $2.5 million of food
annually (64% local). It also “closes the loop” by bringing needed
supplies to the farm and drop-off depots during product pick-up.

Of the 166 certified organic operations in New Mexico (2007): 108 are farm crop (including hay); 43 are processors;15 are livestock.

Of the 105,551 acres that are certified organic in New Mexico: 64,634 are pasture or rangeland (35,170 in 2005); 40,917 are crop (including hay) (4,830 in 2005).

Ten
percent or more of all food consumption in New Mexico is by
institutions. In total, about one in ten dollars spent on food in the
state is an institutional purchase.

School purchases constitute 3.6% of total state food consumption, and
all other institutions about 6.7%. The largest institutional purchasers,
other than schools, are nursing homes, prisons and daycare facilities.
Other institutions include: orphanages, mental institutions, colleges
and universities, government cafeterias, corporate cafeterias and
hospitals. A few potentially large purchasers are not fully represented
in these calculations: airlines, military cafeterias and commissaries,
national park restaurants, tribal casino restaurants and non-profits.

$1.2 million in government food purchases helps supply schools with local food.